Because maple is an organic material, the exact weight of each platform varies slightly. The figuring and natural grain coloring of each platform
is unique. Our Amish craftsmen hand-planed down every Mapleshade platform from rough-cut 2-1/2" and 4-1/2" maple to remove coarseness and
imperfections from the sawmill. Typically this process yields a finished 2" or 4"thickness. But, because of variations in the rough-cut timber,
the exact thickness can vary by 3/16".

The Mapleshade Vibration Control System For Electronics

Our Vibration Control System has three elements: brass footers drain vibration out of the component or speaker and down into a platform; air-dried maple platforms receive and dissipate that vibration; and Isoblocks under the platform isolate it from resonances below it (except for speaker platforms which must be rigidly mounted via brass footers to the floor below). Each element alone will upgrade your sound. Used together, they yield startling improvements. Here are the fundamentals:

• Hybrid isolation/coupling devices like Roller Blocks, IsoBearings, magnetic couplers, etc. purport to serve three essential functions—vibration transfer, vibration dissipation and external isolation—all in one convenient footer. Unfortunately, such all-in-one devices can serve none of the three functions well. They may change, perhaps even improve, sound a bit in one area, but with penalties in other areas, e.g better midrange detail but soggier bass, less edgy treble but slower, duller transients, etc.

Mapleshade's Vibration Control System serves the three functions using three different components, each optimized for one and only one function:

• First, our brass footers are designed only to cleanly drain out as much internal vibrational energy as possible from electronics and speakers. We
specifically optimized our footers’ shape, material, alloy, and mass to maximize the vibrational energy transferred out of the gear and minimize the
energy reflected back. Fifteen years of customer shootoffs have shown they do so more effectively and sound better than any competing footer or hybrid
at any price.

• Second, maple platforms (or SAMSON shelves) serve as the optimal sink for receiving and dissipating the vibrational energy transferred out of the
component by the footers. Surprisingly, exhaustive testing against every space age damping material and composite used in high-end platforms today shows solid
wood (not plywood or MDF) to be better sounding sink. And, among the wood species available, the same tests show maple to have, by a sizable margin, the
most detailed and uncolored sound.

• Third, the specific size and laminate composition of Isoblocks was designed, by ear, to best isolate the maple platform from resonances or vibrations in the supporting shelf or floor below. The final six-laminate design proved to sound better than any of the myriad suspension systems we've tested, even the megabuck magnetic or air suspensions. One exception: Mapleshade DOES NOT recommend using Isoblocks on carpet or rugs. Isoblocks on carpet will let the component and platform rock slightly -- significantly hindering the effectivness of our system. Here, we always recommend using Maple Platforms For Carpet. This is just one example of the attention to detail that has gone into the development of Mapleshade's deceptively simple looking component mounting system.